4A State Girls Soccer: Cascade loses to Puyallup in heartbreaker

EVERETT — It seemed to happen so fast that it was hard to believe. Cascade’s girls soccer team led Puyallup 1-0 for nearly 57 minutes of Tuesday’s opening round 4A state game.

Just more than 13 minutes later, the game was over and the Bruins had lost 2-1.

Puyallup’s Hannah Ornes scored both second-half goals for the Vikings, including the game-winner with just 48 seconds to play.

The Bruins controlled the pace of the game for the first half, though the score was tied 0-0 at intermission. They got the game’s first goal, a shot just inside the lower left post by Denae Weigelt that beat Puyallup goalkeeper Ashley Homer, less than four minutes into the second half.

But after the Bruins took the lead, momentum started to shift toward the Vikings, who became the aggressors for most of the second half.

“I think after they gave up a goal, it motivated their play,” Cascade coach Jamie Gay said of the Vikings. “They played much better after that. They kept the ball after that and there seemed to be more pressure and intensity to their play. I think it swung for them after that goal. They just realized their backs were against the wall and had to go.”

Still, it wasn’t an easy task for the Vikings. Coming into Tuesday night’s game, the Bruins had given up just nine goals all season and more than one goal in a game just once.

After not getting a single shot on goal in the first half, the Vikings got two off early in the second half. But it was the third time that proved to be the charm.

Puyallup’s Allison Shelton sent a cross to Ornes right in front of the goal and Ornes put it away to tie the game at a goal a piece.

The game appeared headed to overtime, until the Vikings ripped out the Bruins hearts in the game’s final minute. After a Puyallup corner kick with a minute remaining, Cascade seemed to have the ball cleared out of danger, but it was controlled by Linsey Garner, who sent a pass to Ornes, who was wide open in the middle of the field. Ornes controlled the ball onsides, but just barely, and slid a shot just outside of the reach of Cascade goalkeeper Rachel Leupold for the game-winner.

“We thought we had the ball cleared and I think we only had it partially cleared,” Gay said. “We wanted to get up out of the back and close them down and not give them space. We were sprinting out of the back, I think it had to be real close as to whether we got out to where that ball got played into an offside position or not. But those are just things you have to do right or wrong for the outcome.”

Though excited about his team’s victory, Puyallup coach Matt White felt for the Bruins players after the game.

“I just feel horrible for them right now,” White said. “Twelve seniors or something like that, they should be proud of what they did and not disappointed. I’m proud of them and I’m not even their coach.”

For those 12 seniors that hadn’t lost in 16 games, the way it ended was tough to swallow.

“We are not here today without them (the seniors),” Gay said. “As bad as it feels, it’s better than not being able to feel this bad. We are here because of 12 seniors that through 18 games put us in a spot that we were able to play in the state tournament. For them to be able to experience this … as bad as it feels right now, in a day or in a week they will feel really proud about what they have done to get us to this spot.”